Lyons v. Knowles

TEMPLE, C. This action was brought to recover damages for a personal injury, alleged to have been caused through the negligence of defendants. It is alleged that defendants, as partners, were engaged in quarrying rock and transporting the same by railroad, and employed one Dusy to haul the rock from the quarry to the railroad station, and there load the same on the cars; that by the terms of their contract with Dusy they agreed to furnish all necessary and proper machinery and appliances for the purpose of loading and unloading the rock, and to furnish assistance in loading the rock from the ground onto the cars; that in October, 1888, while Dusy was engaged in hauling and loading granite blocks under the contract, defendants, regardless of their duty, and the lives and safety of plaintiff and others employed in loading and unloading the same, carelessly and negligently caused to be attached to a derrick a block and tackle for the purposes of loading and unloading said granite, which block and tackle was used during all of the times mentioned in the complaint ; that said block and tackle, and particularly the hook of the upper block, was imperfectly constructed, defective, weak and unsafe, and wholly inadequate in strength to support the weight of a particular block mentioned in the complaint, and that defendants knew of the imperfection and unsafeness; that on the 1st of December, 1888, plaintiff was employed and hired by Dusy to load and unload said granite, and was then and there, with the assistance of defendants and em[848]ployees, engaged in loading from the ground onto a car a certain block of granite, and that, while so engaged, the hook alluded to, by reason of its imperfection and inadequacy, broke and gave way, without fault of plaintiff, causing the rock to fall, crushing his foot so that amputation became necessary. After a demurrer had been overruled, defendants answered, denying that they were partners, and in effect all the allegations of the complaint. The case was tried by a jury, which returned a verdict for plaintiff. A motion for a new trial was made by defendants, one of the grounds of which was that the evidence was insufficient to support the decision. The motion having been denied, the defendants appeal from the judgment and from the order denying them a new trial.

On the trial plaintiff testified that he was employed by Dusy, but did not know the contract between Dusy and defendants; that Dusy was engaged in hauling granite from the quarry to the switch, and in loading it upon the cars; that defendants had erected at the switch a derrick, to be used in loading the granite upon the cars. Plaintiff was employed by Dusy to attend to the loading at the switch. When the cars were ready to receive the granite as it came down on the wagons, Mr. Dusy’s teamsters and plaintiff loaded it from the wagons to the cars. If no cars were there when hauled, the rock was unloaded on the ground, and, when the cars came, defendants always sent men to assist him. Defendants or their clerk would designate what rock should go upon certain cars, but otherwise exercised no supervision or control of the matter of loading. Appellants urge many reasons for a reversal of the judgment, among them that the evidence shows that defendants were guilty of no negligence.